The chief of staff for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is urging Australia to continue to exert financial pressure on the Kremlin.
"Australia is one of the leading players with regards to the sanction policy," Leonid Volkov told ABC's 7.30.
"And this is important for us … that this sanction policy is tailored to be efficient to split Russian elites and to defeat Putin. That's why we are talking to Australian politicians."
In Australia for meetings in Canberra and with the large Russian diaspora, Mr Volkov said increased economic pressure from the West could make it difficult for Mr Putin to continue to finance his invasion of Ukraine, and ultimately push the dictator out of office.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Australia has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs, as well as on trade and other commercial activity.
"People under pressure, people under stress, tend to make mistakes, and some of these mistakes will be his last," Mr Volkov told 7.30.
A life sentence
In August 2020, Mr Navalny was allegedly poisoned by the Russian secret service with a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok. He was flown to Germany for treatment where he remained until January 2021.
Mr Volkov was with Mr Navalny in Germany as he prepared for his fateful return to Moscow, and said the charismatic leader never considered not returning to his homeland.
"To stay abroad would be to admit that Putin's strategy to push people he doesn't like out of the country works," he said.
"What happened to Alexei … that's clearly a life sentence. The question is, for the duration of whose life, Alexei's or Putin's?"
A long-time politician and anti-corruption campaigner, Mr Navalny has been arrested several times on charges varying from fraud to terrorism and extremism.
He always maintained his innocence and rejected all proceedings against him as politically motivated.
Punished for the Oscar-winning documentary
From his cell in a high-security prison about 200 kilometres east of Moscow, Mr Navalny continues to campaign for a post-Putin Russia.
"It's a continuation of the strategy that the Russian government is actually following … to try to break down Alexei psychologically … to make his life in prison unbearable."
According to Mr Volkov, Mr Navalny was moved to a 2x3 metre cell as a form of punishment after the documentary Navalny won an Oscar a few weeks ago.
"He has been put in the punishment cell, which is the most severe punishment within the Russian prison system for the 12th time," Mr Volkov told 7.30.
"We have all the possible reasons to suspect that there is a connection … this is a very small and shitty cell … with a neighbour there who didn't wash himself for the last two months."
Mr Volkov said the harassment of Mr Navalny would not break him, but the nature of his imprisonment endangered his health.
Navalny tweets his policies to the outside world
Mr Navalny communicates with the outside world largely through social media via his lawyers.
Last month, on the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, he outlined a peace plan on Twitter. It included restoring Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.
Mr Navalny's critics said his position on Crimea had been ambiguous in the past, with the politician denouncing Russia's annexation but not campaigning for Crimea's return to Ukraine.
Mr Volkov said Mr Navalny's position is clear.
"We always maintained the position that Crimea was annexed illegally, then we gave a political assessment that, unfortunately, the return to [internationally] recognised borders will not happen soon. And this is just a political reality."
Optimism is part of the job description
Mr Volkov said the Navalny opposition movement would never stop fighting for a democratic alternative to Mr Putin's regime.
"He's not going to give up," Mr Volkov told 7.30.
"Optimism is a job requirement for what we are doing."
He said even in a country where dissidents were persecuted and protests suppressed, it was important to keep speaking up.
"You can't be a Russian opposition politician without a good chunk of optimism …. there are always possibilities to do something," he said.
"And that's our message to everyone … keep fighting."
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7.30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
